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The dress

As you know, Arabella turned eight last week. Normally that would mean she’s getting baptized soon*, but we’ve decided to wait until we go to Utah in July so that her family and best friend will be able to attend.

This leaves me a couple more months to find the perfect baptism dress. I have been searching for quite some time and have sadly come to the conclusion that it’s going to have to be made from scratch. These are my criteria:

–I’m not into the whole white dress thing. India had a gorgeous blue dress with an ivory lace overlay. At her baptism (in Utah so there were seven other kids) I secretly felt rather smug with all those girls in their boring while polyester dresses, and there was India standing out in sky blue dupioni silk. (Snobbish, I know. We all have our hang-ups.) Arabella, girly-girl that she is, wants something pink.

–It has to have sleeves. Mission impossible right there. Everything is sleeveless.

–Silk is preferable. Which costs a pretty penny. I’ve been looking for dresses on ebay for months . . . nothing. We have the crummiest fabric stores here. I wish I had a spare plane ticket to Portland–Fabric Depot is just what I need.

Here are some dresses that have given me a few ideas: (do you like my fancy notations?)

*Mormon kids don’t get baptized until they are eight years old and able to choose right from wrong. Before that all kids are considered innocent.

Have you ever ordered fabric online? I’ve noticed a number of ads for sites in my threads magazine (haven’t ordered from any yet as I haven’t been sewing much lately). I’m trying to remember the store in Union Square in San Francisco that has amazing fabrics: Britex. Maybe they have an online store? I looked it up, for me, too: britexfabrics.com. Also, many places said they’d send samples. Also, I love a store with incredible, hand-smocked dresses. strasburgchildren.com. They’re having a sale. They have pink. Another resource for you. Bon courage!

At strasburgchildren.com, on the online exclusive link, is a beautiful pink silk dupioni. Still pricey, but an idea. (I’m hanging out without any children right now and my laptop–hence I have time to be looking online for fun)

But it’s a lot to pay. Fabric.com often has silk at reasonable prices. (P.S. I love white dresses but not polyester ones . . . sadly, I’m still working on the dress I started for my daughter when she turned 8; she wore a sweet eyelet outfit from Old Navy on her baptism day.)

There was a baptism in our ward were the girl wore her white polyester dress to actually be BAPTIZED in. She now wears it to church. That’s not the usual MO is it? (Obviously, India was not baptized in blue) Just curious if anyone else has seen that?